The Asian Human Rights
Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding an
indefinite hunger strike (fast unto death) undertaken by the
people affected by the steep hike in user fee in the
Sanjeevani Hospital run in Shaktinagar by the National
Thermal Power Corporation. The AHRC has learnt that project
affected people have taken to this lost resort after more
than a month long struggle that failed to move the
authorities for rolling back the hike despite repeated
assurances. The hospital is only one catering to thousands
of the people living in the area. Most of these people are
the ones displaced by the NTPC projects and extremely poor
to survive such hike. The hike would lead to a mammoth
increase in their out of pocket expenditures on medical care
and would expose them to a vicious cycle of debt and
bondage, the main reason behind chronic hunger in the area.

CASE NARRATIVE:

The National Thermal Power Corporation, in an order
dated 01.02.13 ordered a mammoth increase in user fee in
hospitals run by it. The 400 hundred to 600 per cent hike in
the user fee includes the costs of operation, consultation
fee, Intensive Care Unit charges, bed charges, admission
charges, emergency services among others.

The hike
is adversely affecting thousands of people of Shaktinagar in
Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh as they are completely
dependent on the Sanjeevani Hospital of the NTPC. Sonbhadra,
in turn, is one of the most impoverished and backward
districts of Uttar Pradesh. A large section of its
population is comprised of the Kol community, recognised as
a Scheduled Tribe in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh but a
Scheduled Caste community in Uttar Pradesh.

Most of
the people dependent on the hospital are project affected
people displaced by development projects of the NTPC, the
National Coal Limited and Govind Ballabh Pant Water
Reservoir. Many of them were small farmers before turning
into daily wagers owing to their displacement by these
projects. In case of falling sick, not in the least because
of the pollution created by these projects, the only
hospital they have is the NTPC hospital as the other
hospitals are located in Varanasi, more than 200 kilometers
away.

Being daily wagers, most of the people are
very poor and live a hand to mouth existence and any unseen
expenditure on serious sickness is made out of their
pockets, which in turn are empty. The illnesses, thus, force
them to borrow money from local moneylenders at exorbitant
rates and push them into a debt bondage trap. Seen in this
light, the user fee hike exposes the people to chronic
hunger and malnutrition and is a serious misadventure of a
Maharatna company earning thousands of crores of rupees in
profits. Least it can do in such a scenario is to give free
medical services to the people displaced by it.

This is why the steep fee hike caused a large scale
popular anger and galvanised the people into protest.
Concerned with the impact of such popular anger in this
Naxal insurgency affected area, the District Magistrate
wrote a letter to the Chairman of the NTPC in February and
requested him to roll back the hike while conceding that the
people in the area were too poor to bear the additional
costs. The NTPC, however, ignored the request and that led
to a complete shutdown of the markets in the area.

This is what had resulted into local people taking to
the last resort of going on indefinite hunger strike from 19
March, 2013. The district administration, though, approached
the protesters yet again and requested them to give it more
time for making attempts to resolve the issue. In pursuance
of the assurance, the Additional District Magistrate of
Duddhi, Sonbhadra wrote another letter to the District
Magistrate asking for his intervention in the issue by
directing the General Mangers of NTPC Singrauli and
Rihandnagar to resolve the issue fearing that failing to do
that may lead to serious deterioration of law and order in
the district.

SUGGESTED
ACTION:Please write to the authorities
mentioned below demanding immediate intervention asking for
the roll back in steep hike in the user fee at the hospital
run by the National Thermal Power Corporation. To
support this case, please click here:

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear
__________,

INDIA: Roll back steep hike in
user fee in the NTPC hospitals

Name
of the victims: Residents of Shaktinagar and areas
surrounding it Place of incident:
Shaktinagar, Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh.

I am writing
to you regarding the steep user fee hike by the National
Thermal Power Corporation in hospitals run by it that would
diversely affect scores of people dependent upon them for
their medical needs. As you might be aware of, the NTPC, The
National Thermal Power Corporation, in an order dated
01.02.13 ordered a mammoth increase in user fee in hospitals
run by it. The 400 hundred to 600 per cent hike in the user
fee includes the costs of operation, consultation fee,
Intensive Care Unit charges, bed charges, admission charges,
emergency services among others.

The hike is
adversely affecting thousands of people of Shaktinagar in
Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh as they are completely
dependent on the Sanjeevani Hospital of the NTPC. Sonbhadra,
in turn, is one of the most impoverished and backward
districts of Uttar Pradesh. A large section of its
population is comprised of the Kol community, recognised as
a Scheduled Tribe in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh but a
Scheduled Caste community in Uttar Pradesh.

Most of
the people dependent on the hospital are project affected
people displaced by development projects of the NTPC, the
National Coal Limited and Govind Ballabh Pant Water
Reservoir. Many of them were small farmers before turning
into daily wagers owing to their displacement by these
projects. In case of falling sick, not in the least because
of the pollution created by these projects, the only
hospital they have is the NTPC hospital as the other
hospitals are located in Varanasi, more than 200 kilometers
away.

Being daily wagers, most of the people are
very poor and live a hand to mouth existence and any unseen
expenditure on serious sickness is made out of their
pockets, which in turn are empty. The illnesses, thus, force
them to borrow money from local moneylenders at exorbitant
rates and push them into a debt bondage trap. Seen in this
light, the user fee hike exposes the people to chronic
hunger and malnutrition and is a serious misadventure of a
Maharatna company earning thousands of crores of rupees in
profits. Least it can do in such a scenario is to give free
medical services to the people displaced by it.

This is why the steep fee hike caused a large scale
popular anger and galvanised the people into protest.
Concerned with the impact of such popular anger in this
Naxal insurgency affected area, the District Magistrate
wrote a letter to the Chairman of the NTPC in February and
requested him to roll back the hike while conceding that the
people in the area were too poor to bear the additional
costs. The NTPC, however, ignored the request and that led
to a complete shutdown of the markets in the area.

This is what had resulted into local people taking to
the last resort of going on indefinite hunger strike from 19
March, 2013. The district administration, though, approached
the protesters yet again and requested them to give it more
time for making attempts to resolve the issue. In pursuance
of the assurance, the Additional District Magistrate of
Duddhi, Sonbhadra wrote another letter to the District
Magistrate asking for his intervention in the issue by
directing the General Mangers of NTPC Singrauli and
Rihandnagar to resolve the issue fearing that failing to do
that may lead to serious deterioration of law and order in
the district.

I, therefore, urge you to

1. Ensure that the steep user fee hike is rolled back
with immediate effect, 2. Ensure that the community is
consulted with before making any decisions that drastically
affect the people, 3. Ensure that the NTPC and other
companies honour their corporate social responsibility.

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